Media presentations are generally composed of media content such as video, audio, images, text, and/or graphics. Many synchronous and asynchronous distribution techniques are used to deliver media presentations to users of client-side media processing units, including but not limited to streaming (on-demand or live), downloading, and file sharing. Most media distribution services, however, support a limited variety of distribution techniques.
With the availability of virtually ubiquitous networking opportunities and fresh media presentations, there has been increasing consumer demand for media processing units, which may have limited processing, memory, access to limited connectivity resources, and/or fluctuating access to resources accessed by the media presentation. Despite the relatively non-uniform environments in which media processing units operate, consumers generally expect quick, predictable and glitch-free distribution, streaming presentation, and playback from storage of media presentations.
Flexible media file formats that are usable with a variety of distribution techniques to support the efficient use of limited media processing and/or network resources are desirable.